That was my point in my first point "IF" it was a thicket deer (no ag around) it was closer to 5.5 or 6

I'll agree, a very generous guess is 4" brows, 10" G2s a 5" G3 24" mains 10" mass per side 16" spread puts him at about 117 and I think those rough measurements are generous. My guess is our bucks are the heaviest around middle to end of October right before rut is starting to get them covering country. If that was a buck here in Ks I'd guess 3 1/2. Think he's lacking the mass and maybe some of the extras a 7 point here would have at 4 1/2.

Yes, we have ag fields North, West, and East of the property. The “browse” comment always make me chuckle. Nature provides more nutritious food than any thing planted. This property is loaded with natural browse and mast that anything store bought can produce. Yes we put out peanuts, mineral blocks occasionally, and plant a dove field in millet the deer benefit from, but the “browse” is what sustains the deer. This county is known for producing quality bucks, both weight and antler wise. That’s not saying I kill one every year, but we have some very good deer killed each year. You have to look away from the antlers sometimes and take that 5.5+ year old 7 or 8 that may not score but 130 or so. Those mature deer are what we’re really after anyways. It is nice when that 150” and above is killed too. The problem is we have 3.5 year olds that are 150 or pushing it and trying to convince others to hold off is the hard part. We’ve even compare pics with our neighbors to the West on what we think could become true Monsters. One we let go at 3.5 was killed at 6.5 at 205”! That’s a big buck for down here. My son killed a 154” P&Y and a 171” B&C last year. I cut his string on his bow and loosened his scope rings for this year! Personally I do like waiting for antlers, but let a 5.5+ 110” deer walk out and I’m releasing an arrow!

And for the record, I do not post big deer. In fact you won’t see many names in the record books for here…loose lips sink ships. I know of two folks that let it get to their heads and went and “advertised” their kills, neither are hunting those properties anymore. Both times someone found out where and went in and offered 3 to 4 times the money they were paying. Our rule is no Big Buck contest or notoriety. Yes you can get it officially scored, just keep it out of the limelight.
I personally helped drag out two B&C deer and three 150” P&Y deer last year. All but one was targeted prior to season and hunted hard for the kills.

I have to ask what's the difference between posting a pic of big deer and telling us about all the big deer u kill? Wouldn't a pic of 170 class deer risk the same issues as saying u killed a 170 class deer?

... I snuck up and stuck a lit blackcat fire cracker up a 3.75 year old 152 p&y’s butt last year just to make it more of a challenge to kill him with a rock when he turns 8

A story is worthless without pics…everyone knows that, lol.

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Depends on what you call tooting? Posting a pic of an accomplishment isn’t tooting But as we both agree aging and scoring from a pic is like picking lottery numbers
Hey I’ll post some of the deer I killed back when they actually checked in deer here . 3 of them were scored for a buck contest and dnr aged all of them Tell me what you think they scored I’ll put them in new thread Won’t post the booners I killed cause B&B will have a spell

Post up jbyrd63.

And what I meant by not posting pics, is not until they’re killed. I’ve seen friendships destroyed over deer, never seen that with turkeys, lol. I have umpteen places I could deer hunt and I’ll go with a few friends from time to time, but I have never fired my rifle or released an arrow. One guy I’ve been hunting with for 12 years now. I take pics and report anything seen. The owner of one of those places asked if I even loaded my gun, lol. I’m not gonna take someone’s huge buck when they’ve put in the effort to make their property the best it can be.
Now when it comes to turkeys, they know better than to ask! I’ll be there at midnight the night before waiting for a gobbler to sound off at daybreak!!

I actually think a guess on the age of that buck is just a mere guess when you have no previous knowledge of the buck in question. I know the “experts” point things out on their bodies that literally thousands of my trail cam pics of bucks I was familiar with disprove.

I’ve been lucky enough to live right amongst some of the worlds greatest whitetail hunting for almost 25 years and have killed some tremendous bucks and each and every year some bucks I know of defy all of the “telltale signs” of their age.

You are correct. Aging on the hoof is just a generalization or educated guess based on body growth characteristics. There is nothing in nature absolute.

Same as aging by tooth wear. Once a deer has it's adult teeth at 18 to 20 months then that "guess" is based mostly on teeth wear.

You are correct. Your 3.5 year old deer are probably the size of our MATURE deer. I’ve watched videos of hunting up there and deer I thought would be shooters they are passing on saying too young, lol. We have cows that don’t get as big as some of y’all’s deer.
By that same logic, seen deer killed on video that did not look very impressive antler wise and turn out to be B&C deer. Bigger deers antlers just look smaller compared to body size. Conversely our smaller sized deer (compared to yours) make a decent rack look huge.
The only way I know of to actually age a deer is to send a tooth off or have pics of that deer his first or second year up until the kill.

Wanna be, I’ve seen 3 year olds with a sagging gut and 8 year olds without a sway in their back. I’m fortunate enough to hunt the same deer year to year so have a good idea of their age as a guess. I know that when a new one shows up in November, I generally have no clue on their age if they’re packing a good amount of antler. Most 6-8 year olds don’t look much different in body than the 4 year olds if we’re taking the defining traits the experts all share.

I know what you mean regarding antlers and body size. A mature 160” here would look like a little fella antlers wise if compared side by side to a 130 out of Texas.

I would imagine your hunting pressure is probably a little les than ours too, which allows an older age class. We don’t have huge deer, we just have huge deer for our state, both antler and weight wise.

Booner bellies or bucks??

... back in 05 I snuck up on a bedded 179 & 3/16’s and thumped his left testes just for sport

Did it have any ticks on it?

Those deer in Georgia would get big if people let em grow! Burke County used to have monsters and still does. Atlanta for a long time had monsters that were never killed, somebody got wind and killed them off. Same thing with Augusta GA, before it was yuppie central, was a great time.